One last shot
by CeMi07
Summary: [Slight Spoiler for Episode 2] "I said, step back." "Come on, shoot me!" What if there was a bullet left and Max only had to chose between the option to shoot Frank or his knife? [Two-shot]
1. Choice 1

**Authors Note: **So, the following happened. I got a PM, got asked to do a two-shot of LiS on what would have happened if the gun had had a bullet left, got carried away with the idea, rewrote it like 10 times and FINALLY stuck to this 2,130 word-heavy piece of brain-goo, thanks to. A second one (the second choice) will follow, just bare with me, I'm only a few weeks away from my finals (go me!). Thanks **Fishtail.5Kid** for the request, there you go buddy.  
Enough said. Read. Enjoy. Give me chocolate (I really like chocolate). Repeat!

* * *

Frank appeared out of nowhere. I can't believe how fast this whole scene went to shit.

Chloe and I were just talking so peacefully and even though she handed me her gun, I would have assured her, that I won't shoot at _anything_. After she shot plenty enough I just thought that a nice stroll by the tracks, or maybe a ride at the ocean would be nicer than shooting at other targets.

The gun was heavier then I expected it to be and even with two hands the weight was enough to lower my arms slightly. The pistol appeared so small and not at all dangerous. I never would have guessed, that such a thing could be so heavy and right now, it weight a shit ton.

After Chloe freaked out about the bracelet Frank wore – something about it being Rachel's bracelet – he threatened her with his knife.

My eyes widened in shock and I acted on instinct. My hands moved in front of my body and with one quick move, I had the gun in a shooting position. Frank didn't even notice something, not until Chloe looked in my direction. Her eyes were wide in shock and fear and her lips were slightly parted.

Frank just looked at me with his hazelnut brown eyes, showing no emotion at all. He lowered his hand slightly.

It seemed like he was surprised, to see me like this, standing with a gun in my hand, pointing the deadly end in his direction. I was surprised myself, that I brought up the courage, no... the dumbness, to point that weapon at a human being.

What was I thinking? Was I willing to shoot him? Could I do that? No.

I just wanted to stop him, stop him from threatening Chloe and make him go away. I just wanted to scare him away.

"Please. Step back." He couldn't believe, what I was doing. He raised his other hand and tried to talk me into putting the gun down, but I didn't.  
If I would put that thing down, he would get away with whatever he wanted to do.

"I said, step back."

No reaction. Frank closed his eyes and breathed slowly in and out. Chloe still had her hands held up high. By the time she noticed, that Frank had lowered his arms, she did too. Her eyes met mine.

She looked at me so desperate, like she wanted me to solve this whole probably thought, that I could just reverse time and get away with her, before Frank had appeared.

Technically I could have done it, but I didn't know how much time already went by and I was afraid of fucking this whole situation up even more.

I shook my head slightly to let her now, that I couldn't do it. She bit her lips and probably cursed mentally.

Frank had already lowered the knife and his other hand, but he still didn't move. He looked at me with a questioned face.

"You can't do it. You're just a little Girl." he said with a provoking voice.

What?!

My body tensed. I held the gun higher, pointing straight to his face and looked him in the eyes, dead serious.

There it was again: Chloe in a life-threatening situation. Perfect. It was in my hands to save her again, but I had only a few options.I could have lowered my gun back there, when he first questioned my attempt to scare him away, but I would have never done that.

Frank would just get away with whatever he wanted and the way he treated Chloe got me furious. I had only two options and I wanted to look how the first would have gone.

Frank's knife was dangerously close to Chloe. Her eyes were even wider in fear then before and sweat began to form on her forehead. The green-blue of her eyes shimmered in the sunset light. It looked beautiful, but the frown on her face destroyed the beautiful picture.

The temperature seemed to rise. Even though we were outside, the sky was in a burning red, just like my blood. I got goosebumps all over my body and shook visibly. I was scared. Who wouldn't be in my situation. There was no turning back now.

"Put that gun down or I will end this!"

There it was. The split second I waited for. Frank used his knife-hand to point at me again. As he pointed it down to the ground, as to show me where to put my weapon, I shot.

The sound was like two blades who crossed for the first time on the battlefield. Two steel like things crushing against each other, then Frank's voice. His hand was slightly injured after I shot at his knife. The force of the bullet had knocked it out of his grip and had bent his hand pretty hard. The little blade was lying on the ground, just a few steps away and his silver color had a little black spot, where the bullet had hit it.

I couldn't believe I actually had done it, but there I was. And there was Frank. Unarmed.

Chloe quickly realized what happened. With a good aimed kick in the back of his knee, she brought him down to the ground. She swiftly got to the knife and picked it up. Frank was still on his knees and Chloe gave me a quick look. Her face was different.

There was no fear anymore, only anger and hatred. Until I had realized, what she would do, Chloe blasted her body against Frank's, fist first, directly in his face and brought his entire corpus to the ground. His face was in the dirt and was held there by Chloe's elbow. She brought the knife up to his face, so that he could see it.

Frank was no longer in full control and Chloe would use this situation, because it could be the only time that she would find out something new in terms of Rachel Amber. The bracelet that she claimed to be Rachel's must had to have gotten it's way to Frank somehow and she would dig until she had found the answer as to how he got it.

"Tell me how you got this bracelet!" She screamed and dug her arm even further in Frank's, which was pale as chalk. He suddenly wasn't so strong anymore and looked scared.

"I already said it! It was a gift."

"Well, I don't believe that. Why would Rachel give her bracelet to you! Of all people, why you!"  
This wasn't a question, it was a fact. Chloe knew Rachel. She would have known it, if Rachel had had any contact with Frank and for sure she would have known it, if Rachel had made him a gift. Besides why would she give him _her_ bracelet. If it was a gift, then why her own belonging? It didn't make any sense that she herself gave it to Frank, unless the used to be... wait...

As I got out of my thoughts, my hands already were lowered and only one held the gun. Frank and Chloe were still lying on the ground. Chloe asked him the same question over and over again and he gave the same answer every time. It was a gift. A gift.

"Chloe...", I whispered. My voice cracked a little at her name. That's when I realized that my throat was completely dry as were my lips. My tongue rushed over them, moistening them a little and I coughed before I spoke again.  
"Chloe, let him go."

"What?!" Her head shot up and she met my gaze with a questioning and furious look. "What do you mean?"

I didn't say anything. Her eyes searched my face for a clue at what I was thinking. After a few seconds, she stared at Frank again. All I could do was stand next to her and watch her every move. Sooner or later, she got back up, still holding Frank's knife in his direction. He should stay put until she was out of reach. Chloe slowly went to my side and gave me a quick glance.  
"I hope you know, what you're doing, Super Max."

"I hope too..."  
My idea was not solid, but it was the only theory we had at this time and I would ask Frank about it. It took Frank only a few seconds to get up and he didn't look amused at all. His brows nearly touched over his nose and he showed his yellow-white teeth.

"Give me that knife."

I noticed that Chloe shivered. She was still afraid, but also willing to risk more then before. It was her only clue in weeks, month even at what to had happened to Rachel and she wouldn't back out now. "First explain the bracelet." The knife went a little higher and her voice let me shiver.

The whole situation seemed bizarre. At first Frank threatened Chloe about money and now she was the one threatening Frank about a whole new topic. I stepped between the two of them, careful enough not to get to close to Frank.

"You and Rachel", I began. I heard Chloe shift in her place as I spoke. "You had something together. Am I right?"  
Frank's frozen face melt and he looked at me with astonishment. I saw that he lend Chloe a quick glance and that her face must have looked quite as astonished as Frank's.

"How do you know that?"  
"Just a good guess. So she really did give it to you personally."  
"She...did. I told you before. I may be many things, but I ain't no liar."  
Behind me I could hear Chloe breath heavily.

"Go away."  
"Look kid, I don't know what you-"  
"I said... _**GO AWAY!**_"

The scream shot right trough the heart. It was painful. Chloe had put all her emotions and all her anger in it. It brought tears to my eyes to hear her sweet voice in such agony.

Out of pure rage, Chloe stepped forward and tried to scare Frank away with the knife. Because of the previous event, Frank backed up a little and put his hands up as a shield. I looked at Chloe.

Her grip tightened around the knife and she crunched her teeth. Her face was pure anger and her body was tensed. I suddenly realized, that she shivered. Her aim was unsteady and her legs shook visibly. I could see her torso rise with every breath. By the time, Frank had backed up a little.

"Okay, okay... I'll go." he said, while putting his hands down. He turned in his spot and stepped away. We had won.

Chloe sighed. After Frank was out of sight, her knees hit the ground. The shoulders, that were tensed before, now sagged down and Chloe just looked done. Her eyes were fixed on a little flower, that was right in front oh her.

I put the gun down on the car where we had sat on before and went to her side. She looked so sad an jet angry at the same time. I noticed a few tears, rolling down her cheeks.

"Chloe...?" I had got to her level and had put a hand on her shoulder. She whimpered as soon as I touched her and turned her face away from me. I could hear her cry slightly and it broke my heart. I didn't know at the moment, what was going on in her mind, but nevertheless, I embraced her, held her close to my chest and stroke her head. Heartbeats could be heard and after a while, she completely broke and started to cry.

It was the first times in years I saw her cry, if I even saw her cry once. As a kid, she was always cheerful and happy, nothing could have upset her. Maybe she had cried at her fathers funeral, but I wasn't there for her at the time. I couldn't see her sorrow.

I could now.

The sun slowly set as we were still sitting on the little meadow. I had held her for minutes now. In the distance I could hear a train and a few birds whistled along.

"How about a little walk?" Chloe had got quiet a while ago and her head rested on my chest. She lifted it and saw me in the eyes.  
"Tell me everything, Chloe. Please."

Her eyes shut close. I thought that she would say no, but she nodded. After we got back up, she gave me one last hug and whispered a "Thank you." before we went onour trip.

I had the feeling that it would be a long walk.

* * *

**End Note:** Excuse me for time errors, I will learn eventually.. with time! HAHAHA..haha..haaa.. I'm funny, shush.


	2. Choice 2

**Authors Note:** I am SO FRICKIN' SORRY about the delay of this chapter Q_Q! I planned to upload it muuuch sooner but school and some other things happened and I coudn't finish it. **[SPOILERS AHEAD]** _And hey, who would have thought_ _that I was right with Frank and Rachel? I surely didn't :'D_ **[SOILERS OFF]** Sorry again for not uploading the second chapter. To make it even, I will write a THIRD one and release it in about 2-3 days. Just a little special to this Story :3  
Without further ado: Enjoy! (finally)

**Authors Note 2:** This one is way shorter then the other one, because the beginning is the basically the same.

* * *

There it was again: Chloe in a life-threatening situation. Perfect. It was in my hands to save her again, but I had only a few options. I could have lowered my gun back there, when he first questioned my attempt to scare him away, but I would have never done that. Frank would just get away with whatever he wanted and the way he treated Chloe got me furious.

My grip tighened around the gun handle once more and I could feel the sweat forming between the cool steel and my hot palm. My lips quivered slightly as I huffed out my long holded breath.

As my hand rose, Frank's eyes widened and locked with my sight. Our eyes met and everthing else around him went blury. I could only see his figure, standing right in front of me, only a few steps away, holding that bloody knife inches away from Chloe's throat.

In the distant was a faint sound. A mix between a bird and the upcoming train halled trough the evening sky which had turned orange by now. As I focused on Frank's face, I could see him frown, feel his anger pircing through my skin, nearly crushing my resently gained confidence.

I swallowed the ball of selfdoubt and steadied my stand. Right foot in front of the left, last one slightly turned, I stood in front of him. My arms still shook slightly, but with a few breathes I could control them to hold still.

The deadly end of David's colt pointed at Frank, which shoulder's were tensed up and nearly behind his ears. Quickly he glanced at Chloe, then back to me, with a mischevious grin on his face. My mouth opened slighlty as to shout out to Chloe, but the whole scene went by to quick, as to warn her.

Frank did a swift step towords Chloe and tried to tug his knife in her side, but the blade never even got the chance to touch her pale skin.  
Just a armlength away the knife fell down to the ground, right in front of Franks feet.

I didn't even realize what had happened until Chloe stepped to Frank and held his shoulders to help him stand. His legs couldn't carry him anymore and he fell to the ground, pulling Chloe with him, as he gripped her sleeve. As I saw the reason why all this happened in front of my eyes, I let go of the gun.

My shoulders sunk rapidly, like my whole body. Only a moment ago, I had no problem standing up, but now my knees felt like pudding. My legs couldn't handle the shake and gave up to carry me. As Frank, I fell on my knees, eyes still on the two people in front of me, one know with a bleeding hole in his upper chest.

My mind went blank as I saw the puddle of blood, slowly, but steady growing bigger under Frank and Chloe. Frank's hand lied on top of Chloes arm, as she said something. Her lips moved, forming the same words over and over again, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.

The train from before passed by the junkyard and the rustle it caused turned into a loud, static sound and echoed trough my ears. Frank's body wasn' tense anymore and with every second that passed, he sunk down a little more, followed by Chloe who still said something, shouting by now and finally, she got an answer.

Frank's lips formed a short word and her eyes widened. Shortly after, she frowned, biting her lips and turned her head away from Frank, who coughed up the little breath he had left, mixed with blood.

Chloe's grip loosened on Frank's shoulders and she helped him lay down on the meadow. His chest rose with every little breath he took.  
I tried to move, get to their side, but my body wouldn't cooperate, so I sat there, watching Frank's life slowly vanishing in front of my eyes.

It was only one or two minutes later as Frank did his last breath. Chloe sat by his side, trying to stop the bleeding and shouted something in my direction, but I still couldn't hear a single word.

My whole body was shaking, but also numb and uncontrolable. My mouth was dry, but my eyes were wet. I cried. It was a sobless cry, just tears rolling down my face, without a sound from myself or anything around me. My world was pure silence.

I watched Chloe get up and rushing towards me. She sunk down to my position and held my hands. Her face looked so woried and sad but kind of furious, too. Her mouth formed a few words, but all I could concentrate on were her eyes.

Her blue eyes looked right into my body. The sunset gave them a warm glow and the sight got me to cry even more.  
As Chloe held my hands, I could slowly feel them again and looked down.

She held them close to each other and pressed them firmly, smiring blood all over them.  
"I-" I sobbed "I-I killed...him... Chloe I... killed him. I killed him!"  
My voice was mere a whisper, but Chloe could hear it.

I panicked. I breathed fast, in and out, in and out. I felt sick. I wanted to throw up so badly and go away. Chloe noticed my panic and said something to me again, but there was still this static noise,the sound of the gun shot, the train, the static, the shot.

It all went by so quickly. My head began to hurt and the whole world sun around me. Chloe let go of my hands and embraced me.  
"Max, it was an accident. It's all okay. Please don't freak out. I am here for you."

Her hug relived the pain in my head. I still felt like throwing up, but I could controll it now and I finally got to hear her voce again. I buried my face in her shoulders and could smell her hair. It smelled like roses, which was kinda adorable.

One of her hands stroke over my head and my eyes shut close. I didn't want us to be in this situation. If just Frank had never followed and confronted us. I wanted to belive Chloe. Wanted to belive tht it was just and accident and that we could get out of this easily.

I just had to explain why I had her stepfathers gun and why I shot Frank and why Chloe had a debt. We just had to create a little lie. But...  
It wasn't an accident. I new it and she did too. It was my fault that Frank was dead.

My shot that killed him. And it was my resposibility to erase my mistake. I couldn't let him die. I couldn't live wih the guilt. I rewound time. I didn't shoot. I comforted Chloe and she finally new the truth.

* * *

_Special sorry to Fishtail.5Kid which I promised to upload last friday. Something came up and the story had to wait. I hope you are satisfied with this one ^^'_


	3. Special

**Authors Note:** [Probably **SPOILERS** EP3] Did I say "little special"? I did, right? Because it is little. Really little. Tiny. ENJOY!

* * *

_What happened after Chloe found out the Truth?_

"Are you okay?"  
I sat at her side. Just a few seconds after Frank was gone, Chloe had fallen down on her knees, eyes closed in vain. I could see tears, rolling down her cheeks and falling off of her chin. She clenched her teeth and tried to look away from me. Was she ashamed? Angry? Upset?  
Maybe all of them and more, I couldn't tell by this time. All I could tell was, that she was _hurt_. Thank god not physically, but mentally which was terrible too. I rose my hand in attempt to stroke her back, but she suddenly stood up, facing away from me. I simply didn't know what to do. Should I tell her, that everything will be alright, even though it wasn't and probably will not be?

"Chloe, I-"  
"It's okay Max. It... really is."  
It wasn't. I could see how hard she clenched her fist and how white her knuckled became. She probably noticed herself, as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, in order to hide it.  
"I just... I... I can't believe she never _told_ me... Why...?"  
She didn't want an answer. She already knew it herself and it broke my heart to see her standing like that. Her head held low, her fingers grabbing her arms and shaking.  
As I saw her figure standing there, I couldn't help myself but to embrace her, letting her know, that I am there, that I will go through this, with her. She stopped shaking. One hand came up to my arm and squeezed it lightly.  
"Thank you Max." I could hear her sobs in between the words and held her even tighter, till she barely got to breathe.

"I'll be there for you. From now on, always."  
"Of course", she laughed "a hero would be nothing, without his sidekick."


End file.
